Real Live Voter Fraud?

[Joanne98]

Here's a classic example of the voter-fraud bamboozle. A conservative group in Minnesota, which is still "fighting" Al Franken's win over Norm Coleman in 2008, initially claimed that it had found 1,250 cases of illegal voting in that race. Then they dropped that number down to 450 and submitted their evidence to the local prosecutor. The prosecutor just finished reviewing that evidence and filed charges in 47 cases, or about 4 percent of the original claim.

The point in exposing this long-term "voter fraud" bamboozlement from Republicans isn't that actual voter fraud doesn't ever occur. It's that instances of it are so small and isolated, that they are largely inconsequential. That doesn't mean those cases shouldn't be prosecuted but it does mean that the major impediments the bamboozlers want to raise to voting, including voter ID laws, are ostensibly to address a problem that is overblown. So then the question becomes why overstate the problem and propose draconian solutions to it?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2010/10/real_live_voter_fraud.php?ref=fpblg

[mstinamotorcity]

1. It's the election

fraud they need to worry about.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

2. There's been what 5 or 6 cases of voter fraud in the last 10 years? The problem in our country

is electoral fraud not voter fraud. I know most of us here understand this. I'm just stating something for the lurking Koch Suckers.

[wiggs]

3. There were 87 fraud convictions in 5 years. Most were not intention voter fraud

According to Bush's own US Election Assistance Commission, there were 87 ballot fraud convictions between 2002 and 2007. The convictions occurred even after Bush/Rove made voter fraud a top justice department priority (and fired 7 prosecutors for not delivering more convictions). Most of the 87 were due to local politicians improperly paying for votes. ONLY 17 WERE FOR NON-CITIZEN VOTING, 6 WERE FOR MULTIPLE VOTES. IN ALL STATES, FOR TWO ELECTIONS. During that time, for two elections, 205 million votes were cast in all states. So let's say there were 23 fraudulent votes...that's less than a quarter of one vote per state per election.

That's .000011 percent chance of provable fraud.

Clearly, they are claiming voter fraud in an effort to depress the vote and to justify their own vote challenging efforts. Heinous. WHY ACTIONS HAVE NOT BEEN TAKEN BY DEMS TO ADDRESS VOTING FRAUD OF ALL KINDS FOLLOWING THE 2006 ELECTIONS IS MYSTIFYING AND FRUSTRATING.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/10/west_virginia_gop_launches_anti-voter_fraud_effort.php?ref=fpblg

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/washington/12fraud.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/10/voter_fraud_allegations_in_yuma_county_turn_out_ba.php?ref=fpb

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/10/gop_lawyers_group_warns_newsmax_of_epidemic_voter.php?ref=fpblg

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

4. Thank you for the numbers. I shouldn't post things that I've pieced together from faulty memory. nt

[SharonAnn]

5. They accused the Dems here, but it was the president of the GOP Federation of Women who was indictd.

She actually went into a precinct to cast a vote in the name of someone she knew who wasn't going to be voting that day.

She actually did it!